(no subject)
Mar. 11th, 2002 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gementI have decided to blame chess for America's woes. For Hollywood. For foreign policy. For everything.
In chess, there is a single victory condition. Kill black king. You're like a bunch of bloody Daleks, it doesn't matter how many of yours get knocked over as long as central control is fine and you kill the Doctor.
This means all Hollywood movie plots have a one-shot finish, a linch-pin Dude that you have to kill/catch/foil/rebury at the end of the movie, and all the pet zombies that were in his thrall just give up.
Except most people in this country get their shape of the outside universe (that is, the things that aren't in their immediate vicinity, as first-hand experience tends to trump) from media... even the media people. So they all think it's set up like movies, kill one drug czar/despot/guy in a turban and all the strings that one dude was holding will unravel like a sweater, letting the rest of the system revert to its peace-lovin', substance-free, Christian, democratic self. All the puppies and toddlers will be fine.
This rant brought to you by a flyer I found in the street about recruiting for a Christian mission to poor Muslim countries that are full of oppressed people that just don't know how wonderful it is to be Christian yet.
And yes, this is a public expression of a much more personal frustration that has nothing to do with either this or the last rant. Sorry, had to jump up and down about SOMETHING, and there are restrictions on my pointing it at the main problem yet.
In chess, there is a single victory condition. Kill black king. You're like a bunch of bloody Daleks, it doesn't matter how many of yours get knocked over as long as central control is fine and you kill the Doctor.
This means all Hollywood movie plots have a one-shot finish, a linch-pin Dude that you have to kill/catch/foil/rebury at the end of the movie, and all the pet zombies that were in his thrall just give up.
Except most people in this country get their shape of the outside universe (that is, the things that aren't in their immediate vicinity, as first-hand experience tends to trump) from media... even the media people. So they all think it's set up like movies, kill one drug czar/despot/guy in a turban and all the strings that one dude was holding will unravel like a sweater, letting the rest of the system revert to its peace-lovin', substance-free, Christian, democratic self. All the puppies and toddlers will be fine.
This rant brought to you by a flyer I found in the street about recruiting for a Christian mission to poor Muslim countries that are full of oppressed people that just don't know how wonderful it is to be Christian yet.
And yes, this is a public expression of a much more personal frustration that has nothing to do with either this or the last rant. Sorry, had to jump up and down about SOMETHING, and there are restrictions on my pointing it at the main problem yet.
